Well. On Christmas break I was looking for activities and crafts to keep my boys busy. After cruising around Pinterest I found some ideas. One in particular I was quite excited to try. I thought it would keep them busy in multiple stages and serve a secondary purpose.
It was crayon melt paintings. First we sorted out the old broken crayons from our bin (they were each getting new crayons in their stockings). Then they usually love peeling crayons when they're supposed to be colouring so this was their chance to go to town with it. However, I think in our move across the country, they melted just enough to fuse the papers to the crayons. So that was less than successful and I got to peel most of them. But then on to the fun parts. Making the picture an melting the crayons! They turned out quite well and it was kindof fun.
I decided that I might like to continue the fun and make my own picture. Except I decided mine could be a bit fancier. So I added a silouhette. Cool.
Was it good enough? Nope. Why leave it there? Next I added some found object pieces because that just follows with the rest of my work. In my collection of found objects, I found some wax buttons with wicks, originally to power a small boat. Logically (perhaps, it is my scrambled brain we're referencing) they got added and next thing you know my painting was on fire. Well, just the wax buttons, which were carefully monitored and put out safely! After that it got shelved. I couldn't decide if it was done. Gradually, as I was contemplating it, I realized that I could carve into the wax! I had already pushed and tormented this project far past it's pretty Pinterest inspired roots, why not keep experimenting? My artwork is for me, to play, decompress, experiment and enjoy the process. So, guess what? It's been carved into too. Is it done now? Only time will tell.